TIPS FOR GREAT BREAKFASTS

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS

Great health begins with a great breakfast.  So what exactly is a great breakfast?  It is the meal that sets the tone for your day, breaks the fast after not eating all night, and gives your brain and body the energy, focus, and power for a day of learning and activity. 

Great Breakfast Idea: Toast that meets THE NANCY RULE topped with peanut or almond butter and sliced strawberries.

Planning great breakfasts for your kids means learning the basics about carbohydrates, protein, and fats.  Loading the kids up with bowls of refined sugar, found in most breakfast cereals, will doom them to a day of hyperactivity followed by blood sugar crashes and the inability to concentrate.   Whenever I see kids on their way to middle and high school in the morning stopping by the 7-11 convenient store to purchase one of those monster energy drinks or an Arizona Southern Style iced tea, I wonder why the parents of those kids let them out of the house without their most valuable meal of the day. All sugar = empty calories and no nutritional value.

Here are three great breakfast ideas:

1.       Steel cut oats with blueberries, cinnamon, and agave nectar plus almond, rice, or soy milk

2.       Toast made from whole grain bread that meets THE NANCY RULE* plus a hard-boiled egg or a fried egg plus half an orange, peach, or pear.

3.       Whole grain waffles (try the Van's brand in the freezer section to make this an easy choice) topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and/or bananas and yogurt.

*THE NANCY RULE is something I created to make it easy to remember what kind of bread to buy: 

• (1) 4 or more grams of dietary fiber per slice AND 
• (2) the first ingredient includes the word “WHOLE”.  

Set the example and make sure YOU are having breakfast, too.  It may mean getting up 10 minutes earlier in the morning but it will pay great dividends - today and the rest of your life!  Why?  Because preventing obesity means not skipping meals.  Losing weight means not skipping meals.  

For more great healthy breakfast ideas for kids, go to: http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/kids-breakfast-recipes-00412000072277/

In gratitude,

Nancy Heinrich

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc. 

METABOLIC SYNDROME

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS 2013

New Year’s Resolutions usually include something about exercise.   As parents, you know that exercise is essential for maintaining a healthy weight.  It is essential for helping kids get to a healthier weight.  The fact is that you can lose weight by just eating less calories but to keep off the weight you have to move more.

The tip for parents from Growing Healthy Kids  is this:  take responsibility for your kids’ fitness by taking family walks together several days a week.  

Exercise as simple as taking regular walks can assist your kids (and you) to get to (and stay at) a healthy weight.  What kind of exercise is best?

A recent Danish study of 10,000 adults revealed that taking a short, fast walk was more beneficial than a long, slow walk in improving the risk factors for metabolic syndrome.  According to a January 2013 article in USA Weekend, “Researchers found fast walking and jogging every day can cut the risk of heart disease and stroke by up to 50%, but walking an hour a day makes little difference.  Another study found that people who lift weights are less prone to metabolic syndrome.”  The metabolic syndrome is present when you have three or more of these five signs:

• Elevated blood pressure
• Elevated blood sugars
• Large waist circumference
• Low HDL cholesterol
• Elevated triglycerides

For a quick lesson on metabolic syndrome BY THE NUMBERS, read the section below:

Metabolic syndrome is present if you have three or more of 

the following signs:

·         Blood pressure equal to or higher than 130/85 mmHg

·         Fasting blood sugar (glucose) equal to or higher than 100 mg/dL

·         Large waist circumference (length around the waist):

o    Men - 40 inches or more

o    Women - 35 inches or more

·         Low HDL cholesterol:

o    Men - under 40 mg/dL

o    Women - under 50 mg/dL

·         Triglycerides equal to or higher than 150 mg/dL

For more information about the metabolic syndrome, click here:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004546/

Walking can lower your blood pressure, lower your blood sugars, improve your waist circumference, help you to lose weight, help keep off weight, and raise your good cholesterol (HDL).  

Ready to walk your way to wellness?  As parents, we can choose to be positive role models for our children - OR NOT.  Let’s get moving, America, because we can walk our way to wellness!  I commit to MOVE MORE in 2013.  

Now, the question is, will you?

In gratitude,

Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH

Founder, Growing Healthy Kids

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR HEALTHY FAMILIES

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS 2013

JANUARY IS A GREAT MONTH to set your intentions to be healthier.  Some people do this by making New Year's resolutions.  Some people buy a new journal to write in every day.  Some people join a fitness club in hopes of losing 10 pounds.  Some commit to eating less junk foods.  What is your intention? 

AS PARENTS, we set our intentions to help our kids have better lives.  To live better, we need to focus on our health.  Something is wrong with our country when 17% of America's kids are already categorized as "obese".  Many parents think they cannot afford to feed their kids healthy foods, something I hear all the time when I speak at schools.  Can you afford to "eat healthy"?  Of course you can, once you know can define it.   

Growing Healthy Kids Rule #1:  EAT RAINBOWS

EATING HEALTHY MEANS:

• lots of vegetables and fruits (these should be half of what you eat, hence, my "eat rainbows" rule)
• if you drink fruit juice, limit it (rule of thumb is no more than 1/2 cup - 4 ounces - a couple of days a week)
• plenty of grains (such as barley, oats, wheat, rye, and quinoa) - more than half should be WHOLE grains, not refined
• most of your fats should be unsaturated fats (like nuts, fish, avocados, flax seeds, and liquid vegetable oils such as extra virgin olive and canola oils)
• include cold water fish (such as salmon or tuna) at least twice a week as part of your low-fat protein choices 
• drink plenty of water every day (AND cut back/eliminate sodas, including diet sodas) 

FOR NEW IDEAS to help your kids and you eat more fruits and vegetables, check out this great resource:




In gratitude,
Nancy L. Heinrich 
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

Get your "Eat Rainbows" T-shirt or apron at http://www.cafepress.com/growinghealthykids.